Improving the breed..........

[Springfield Pointers]

Sometimes one has to look at the dog(s) and not the awards. Especially if you're trying to add something.

[Cass]

I find this interesting. There's a dog in my guy's pedigree that sired 8 or 9 ftch but he had no accomplishments himself. he actually shows up on both sides of the pedigree. I asked the breeder why he bred him and not the sons and his reply was simple "he was a good dog".

[Springfield Pointers]

I find this interesting. There's a dog in my guy's pedigree that sired 8 or 9 ftch but he had no accomplishments himself. he actually shows up on both sides of the pedigree. I asked the breeder why he bred him and not the sons and his reply was simple "he was a good dog".

Clever man. Listen to him.

[allan450]

I would never buy a dog off paper.i have to rough shoot over the sire and dam 1st.it doesnt bother me if their is no FTCH.as long as im happy with the sire and dam its enough for me.hell the best dogs[spaniels] i seen had no papers.i think people get caught up on these FTCH dogs.when the truth been told these trails dont represent/simulate a days rough shooting anymore.A few years ago yes but not any more.more and more spaniels getting softer and softer and avoiding cover.far cry from what they were breed for.

[Cass]

I think it depends on what you are looking for in a dog... I wanted something that gave me a good chance of being a spectacular hunting companion with a possibility of trialing... therefore a heavily red pedigree meant a lot to me. To be honest both dam and sire were not titled dogs whatsoever.... great hunters but neither won anything. Both only won junior hunter titles in hunt tests.... Jake's dam is mainly a pet (her owner is my breeder's apprentice) and his sire was trialing but developed a bad habit of popping. He now is a guide's dog on a preserve and has hundreds of birds shot over him monthly. 90% of ancestors prior to them though were in the red. My next pup? I will look for a litter of FC x FC

[Springcopse spaniels]

Bridevalley spaniels were about the best I have ever seen. A pitty that Mr Toomey stopt breeding spaniels. Bridevalley and Sprucehill were/are very similar. Sprucehill Alfie was the sire of Meonview Woodlark who was Robinsmoor Frolic's sire. Mr Bateson trained and sold Frolic but also brought Hothead from Ireland to the UK. A friend of mine had Bridevalley Hector a litter brother to Nell, Hotheads mother. Hector was the dog that made me look around in Ireland. The Bridevalley dogs were truly linebred to strong hunting material. I have seen pedigrees with 7 times the foundation bitch in it. We realy could do with them now.
I do not think it's necessary to breed to FTch's. I use the dog that pleases me, FTch or not. I never make compromises in the hunting department. Only fire on fire. I've shot woodcock in West Ireland over my friends dogs wich have the same lines as mine. Going back to strong Monalue hunting stuff. Those dogs hunt glens and slopes in the hardest of cover for woodcock. Not a lot of scent and going strong every day of the season. When you stand in the bottom, they are not affraid to clean out the slope in front of you and get 50/60 metres aways from you. They come back when called. True spaniel work at his best.
If somebody is out there who has dogs with 3/4 lines going back to Hothead, just give a shout. I'll be more than happy to answer.

This is currently a topic close to home, having a dog in my kennels here with this exact breeding.
A few panel judges have seen him and have been very impressed with him even at his young age. Just today he was picking up on one drive, his learning and tractable nature is second to none and i certainly consider his fast learning pace unsuitable for the novice handler. Is mr Smutt still frequenting the forum? Would love to hear more about these lines. Also featuring Pyecross breeding and none of the modern stuff from Ireland and virtually Rytex free apart from Rex and one other way way back.
He also has 3 lines back to frolic with the closest just great grandsire.

[Springcopse spaniels]

I would never buy a dog off paper.i have to rough shoot over the sire and dam 1st.it doesnt bother me if their is no FTCH.as long as im happy with the sire and dam its enough for me.hell the best dogs[spaniels] i seen had no papers.i think people get caught up on these FTCH dogs.when the truth been told these trails dont represent/simulate a days rough shooting anymore.A few years ago yes but not any more.more and more spaniels getting softer and softer and avoiding cover.far cry from what they were breed for.

I dont think that is down to the breeding too much more to the training. More trials are being run on white grass and cover crops. A far cry from where we should be trialing. At a trial on Tuesday this week three dogs from the card where put out for not entering cover an A panel judge included....
Two novice and inexperienced dogs who havent learnt the trade.

[Springcopse spaniels]

Does anyone.of yester year know the reall name of the person behind hales smut?

[Judy]

What, on the forum or the original breeder?

[Springcopse spaniels]

What, on the forum or the original breeder?

No forum member